Yarn-twisting attachment for knitting-machines.



H. H WEST. v YARN TWISTING ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MAGHINEQ.

. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 29, 1910. I 1,006,89, Patented 0013.24, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. HIWEST. YARN TWISTING AT'I'AGHMENl FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 29, 1910.

Patented Oct. 24, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

H. H. WEST. -YARN TWISTING ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED ,89, Patented Oct. 24, 1911.

lEmEl H. H. WEST. YARN TWISTING ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

A APPLICATION FILED DEA]. 29, 1910. 1 1,006,889. Patented 0012-11911.

4 BHEETSSHEET 4.

TIEAM amen 3oz WWI/em W thickness;

PATN-F1Q.

HARRY H. WEST, OF PLYMOUTH, PENNSYLVANIA.

YARN-TWISTING ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 24, 1911.

.AppIication filed December 29, 1910. Serial No. 599,898

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY H. VVEsr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plymouth, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Yarn-Twisting Attachment for Knitting-Machines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved yarn twisting attachment for circular knitting machines, and is especially adapted for use on what is known on the market as the Standard machine, one of which is shown in the-patent to H. A. Houseman, #7 74,473, dated November 8, 1904.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an attachment for circular knitting machines whereby the necessity of employing special machines, such as are now used, for making threads or yarns of varying plies and of different materials, as silk, wool, cotton or lisle, or any combination of them, is eliminated; and the keeping in stock of such yarns, a large portion of which is often not used at all, is thus rendered unnecessary and the expense of keeping up the stock thereby greatly reduced.

Another object is to provide an attachment of this character which is operable to supply yarn tothe machine for knitting plain work from a thread composed of one or more individual strands of the same color, the number of strands employed varying according to the thickness and strength of the fabric to be knit; for producing fabrics of varying textures, designs, color combinations and and operable for producing threads composed of any desired number of strands or plies the twist of which may be varied to produce stronger or weaker fabr1cs.

Still another object is to provide an attachment constructed to twist the strands forming the threads from which a fabric is to be knit in such a manner that first one and then another will be exposed on the outer face of the fabric, the extent of exposure of the respective strands being controlled by the twist formed in the thread from which the fabric is knit.

With these and other objects in view, the lnvention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims. V

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a knitting machine equipped with this improved attachment; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof with parts of the machine omitted; Fig. 3 is a top plan view partly in section; Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail vertical section through a portion of the attachment; Fig. 6 is a similar view of another portion thereof; Fig. 7 is a top plan view partly in section taken on the line 77 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a detail vertical section through the upper bobbin carrier; Fig. 9 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 10 is 9. diagram of a portion of fabric, two strands being shown twisted around each other.

In the embodiment illustrated, this improved attachment is shown applied to the machine illustrated in the Houseman patent above referred to, suitable brackets being provided for supporting the attachment in operative position. In this machine the knitting cylinder G is stationary and the cam cylinder F rotated by means of a power driven gear E which meshes with a gear F secured to the cam cylinder (see Figs. 1 and 4). A thread guide A of any suitable or desired construction is mounted on the cam cylinder F and rotates therewith, and a su1t able tension device B is mounted on a standard C above said guide A and another thread guide D is mounted on said standard C above the tension device B. All of the above parts being old and well known, no further description is deemed necessary.

The attachment comprises a plurallt of vertically spaced rotatably) mounted bo bm carriers, any desired num er of wh ch may be employed, and a number of WhICh may be thrown out of operation without interfering with the operation of the others. Three of these rotatable bobbin carriers are here shown, and designated 1, and 3 respectively. Each of these carr ers preferably comprises a disk as 4 provided with a centrally disposed tubular member 5 extending upwardly from its upper face and arranged over a centrally disposed aperture in disengagement of the bobbins therefrom.

Gears as 7 are fixed to the lower faces of these disks and are provided with hubs as 8 which are designed to rest on the upper faces of their supports to hold the gears suitably spaced therefrom for a purpose to be described. The tubular members of the respective disks are mounted on hollow standards as hereinafter described.

A gear 10 actuates indirectly all of the rotary bobbin carriers of the attachment and is itself actuated by the power driven gear E of the machine through a pinion 11 which meshes with said gear E and is preferably connected with said gear 10 by a ratchet 12 secured to the lower face of said pinion 11 and spring pressed pawls as 13 mounted on the upper face of the gear 10. This connection permits the pinion 11 to be rotated in one dlrection without rotating the gear 10 which is necessary during the reciprocation of the cam cylinder while knitting the heel or toe to prevent the unwinding of the twists formed in the yarn by the rotation of the bobbin carriers in one direction. When the pinion 11 turns in the direction in which the carriers are rotated the teeth of the ratchet 12 will engage the pawls 13 on gear 10 and carry the gear 10 with it, and when the motion of said pinion is reversed the ratchet teeth will ride under the pawls and the gear 10 remain stationary. A spring brake 10 is preferably provided for engagement with the lower face of the gear 10 to prevent said ratchet wheel from turning said gear by friction on the reversal of the pinion 11. Rotary motion is imparted to the intermediate carrier 2 when in operative position by the gear 10 which meshes with the gear 7 on the lower face of the disk 4.

The tubular member 5 of the carrier 2, whlch registers with a centrally disposed aperture in the gear 7 of said carrier, is slidably mounted on a hollow shaft 23 which extends through an aperture in the top plate of the machine and through a plate 24 of the knitting machine frame in a plane below the top plate and which supports the lower end of said shaft, which is held against displacement by a collar 25 or any other suitable means. A gear 26 is fixed to the lower end of this shaft 23, preferably adjacent the upper face of the plate 24, and meshes with a gear 27 keyed to slide on the upper end of a shaft 28 which extends through the plate 24. This gear 27 is provided on 1ts lower face with a hub- 29 for spacing 1t a suitable distance above said bracket and with the lower face of which is adapted to be engaged the free end of a pivotally mounted block 30 when said pinion is moved upwardly on the shaft 28 to disengage it from the gear 26, and when so held the shaft 28, which receives its motion from the gear 26, will remain stationary, and the carrier 3, which is mounted below the bracket 24 on a cross bar or bracket 33 and which is rotated by a gear 31 on the lower end of said shaft 28, will also remain stationary while the gear 27 is so held.

The gear 31 meshes with the gear 7 of the carrier 3, and when the gear 27 is in mesh with the gear 26 rotary motion will be imparted to said carrier 3. The tubular member 5 of this lower bobbin carrier 3 alines with a centrally disposed aperture in the gear 7 secured to the lower face of its disk 4, and said member and gear are revolubly mounted on a short hollow shaft 32 which extends through and is secured to the cross bar or bracket 33, mounted on the frame of the machine. A stationary bobbin 34 may be arranged in longitudinal alinement with the shafts, 32, 23 and 21 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

A gear 14 secured to a revolubly mounted upwardly extending standard 15 also meshes with and is driven by the gear 10. This standard 15 passes through a laterally extending bracket 16 secured to the upright C and on which the upper bobbin carrier 1 is supportedI A pi'nion 17 is slidably keyed to the upper end of said standard 15 and is provided on its lower face with a collar or hub 18 which spaces it a suitable distance above the bracket 16. The gear 7 of the upper bobbin carrier 1 is driven by the pinion 17 through an intermediate gear 19 which is detachably mounted in a slot 20 of the bracket 16 to provide for its removal and the substitution of other gears 17 and 19 when it is desired to change the speed of the bobbin carrier 1 to vary the twist of the yarn. The tubular member 5 of this bobbin carrier 1, and the gear 7, which is provided Witha central aperture in alinement with said tubular member, are revolubly mounted on a short hollow shaft 21 which extends through and is secured to the bracket 16 in any suitable manner and forms a combined thread guide and carrier bearing. A member 22 preferably in the form of an elongated block is pivotally mounted on the bracket 16 and the free end thereof is designed to be swung under the hub 18 of the pinion 17 when said pinion has'been moved upwardly on the standard 15 a sufficient distance to throw it out of mesh with the pinion 19, said block serving to hold said pinion in elevated position. When the pinion 17 is thrown out of mesh with the pinion 19 the bobbin carrier 1 will remain stationary, it being obvious that the rotary motion thereof is imparted by means of this pinion 17 with the rotation of the carrier 2.

It is to be understood that any desired number of yarn carriers may be employed and that each carrier may contain any desired number of bobbin pins, and to vary '1 the speed of rotation of any of the respective carriers it is necessary only to remove the driving gears which mesh with the gears on the lower faces of the carrier disks and substitute others either larger or smaller according to whether it is desired to increase or decrease the speed of the carriers. The vertically alined hollow bearing shafts of the respective bobbin carriers form thread guides for the strands supplied from the carriers arranged below. The bores of the shafts are each preferably flared outwardly at their opposite ends, as shown clearly in Figs. 5, 6 and 8, to facilitate the passage of the strands therethrough. The thread supplied from the stationary bobbin carrier 3-1 arranged at the bottom of the series passes up through the respective shafts and combines with or oins the strands from the rotatable carriers at the top where they merge into a single thread and pass through the thread guide D to the tension device, and from thence through the guide A to the needle cylinder.

During the operation of the machine rotary motion is transmitted to the. ars 7 of the carriers and by means of which said carriers containing any number of bobbins are rotated rapidly in the same direction to twist the strands into a single thread, the number of twists imparted thereto regulating the strength of the thread.

From the above description it will be obvious that the carrier 3 may be thrown out of rotation by elevating the gear 27 to throw it out of mesh with the gear 26 and inserting under the hub 29 thereof the pivoted member 30 which holds it in this position as long as may be desired and which in no way interferes with the operation of the other carriers.

To stop the rotation of the carrier 2 the gear 7 thereof which is keyed to the hollow shaft 23 is elevated a suflicient distance to disengage it from the gear 10, and a block 36 similar to the block 30 is swung under the hub of said gear 7 to hold it in elevated position. It will be obvious from the above description that when the carrier 2 ceases to rotate, the rotation of the lower carrier 8 also stops but the carrier 1 continues to rotate, being entirely independent of the carrier 2.

When it is desired that the upper carrier 1 remain stationary the gear 17 is elevated to disengage it from the gear 19, and the block 22 is swung under the hub thereof and holds said gear in this position until released by the operator. It will thus be obvious that any of the carriers may be thrown into or out of rotation, and one or all of them used as may be desired. For instance, should a four ply thread be required, four bobbins may be employed, the strands from which are twisted together by rotation of the bobbin carrier in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In the fabric shown in Fig. 10 the thread is shown composed of two strands a and d only, which owing to their twist, cause the exposure of one strand for several loops or stitches.

In the operation of this attachment, when it is desired to form a mottled, multicolored fabric of medium thickness and strength, any desired colors or strands may be used. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 nine strands are employed, the colors used being varied according to the design desired.

I claim as my invention:

1. A. yarn supplying attachment for knitting machines comprising a plurality of vertically spaced rotatably mounted bobbin car riers, means for rotating said carriers, and means permitting the individual carriers to be thrown out of operation without interfering with the operation of the others.

2. A yarn twisting attachment for knitting machines comprising a disk having a plurality of bobbin spindles on its upper face, a gear secured to its lower face, a vertically movable power driven gear meshing with said disk carried gear when in operative position, and means for insertion under said actuating gear to hold it in ele vated position out of mesh with said disk carried gear.

3. A yarn twisting attachment for lmitting machines comprising a disk having a plurality of bobbin spindles on its upper face, a gear secured to its lower face, a vertically movable power driven gear meshing with said disk carried gear when in operative position, and a pivoted member mount- 10&

ed to be swung under said actuating gear when in elevated position to hold it out of mesh with said disk carried gear.

4:. A yarn twisting attachment for knitting machines comprising a disk having a plurality of bobbin spindles on its upper face, a gear secured to its lower face, a power driven actuating gear meshing with said disk carried gear, and means for permitting said actuating gear to turn in one direction and to prevent its turning in the opposite direction.

5. A yarn twisting attachment for knitting machines comprising a disk having a plurality of bobbin spindles on its upper face, a gear secured to its lower face, a power driven actuating gear meshing with said disk carried gear, a power driven pinion,

and a pawl and ratchet connection between said pinion and disk actuating gear to provide for the rotation of said actuating gear in one direction and to prevent its rotation in the other direction.

6. A yarn twisting attachment for knitting machines comprising a disk having a plurality of bobbin spindles on its upper face, a gear secured to its lower face, a power driven actuating gear meshing with said disk carried gear, a power driven pinion, a pawl and ratchet connection between said pinion and disk actuating gear to pro vide for the rotation of said actuating gear in one direction and to prevent its rotation in the other direction, and a spring brake for said actuating gear.

7. A yarn supplying attachment for knitting machines provided with twisting means adjustable for forming threads of varying plies, and means adjustable for varying the twist to form stronger or weaker threads.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY H. WEST.

Witnesses:

IsIDoR GLOM, HAROLD Hon EYWELL. 

